Douglas deputy’s pension? $8,702.35
School resource officer retired after not confronting shooter
Scot Peterson, the Broward Sheriff’s deputy vilified for failing to confront the Parkland school shooter, has begun receiving a state pension of $8,702.35 a month.
Peterson resigned and retired Feb. 22, a week after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where he waited outside as Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people and wounded 17 others.
Peterson began to receive his pension in April, according to the Florida Department of Management Services. He can receive the payments for the rest of his life.
The 55-year-old Peterson, a Broward deputy for 32 years, was paid $101,879.03 last year — $75,673.72 in base salary plus overtime and other compensation, according to sheriff’s office records. Until the shooting, he was considered a trusted school resource officer at Stoneman Douglas, according to annual reviews of his performance.
On Feb. 14, surveillance video showed Peterson waiting outside the school as Cruz prowled the halls with an AR-15 rifle. President Donald Trump branded Peterson a coward, and Sheriff Scott Israel
began an investigation into his actions. Israel said Peterson should have “went in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer.”
After the shooting, Peterson said in a statement that he had heard gunshots but believed they were coming from outside the school and not inside the building where the shooting took place.
An attorney representing Peterson did not respond to an email Tuesday requesting comment.
Peterson’s pension payments are based on the total number of years he worked and the average of his five highest-paid fiscal years, according to a state pension handbook.
Health benefits are not included in the monthly amount, according to a Department of Management Services spokeswoman. That information would have to be provided by his former employer, she said.
The sheriff’s office did not respond to questions Tuesday about Peterson’s health benefits or the status of the agency’s investigation.
Peterson would not be entitled to his pension if he were convicted of a crime such as embezzlement or bribery. Neither the sheriff ’s office nor the state attorney have indicated “any charges or other circumstances” that would justify withholding Peterson’s pension, Erin Rock, secretary for the Department of Management Services, concluded in a letter March 28.
A state commission is reviewing the police response to the shooting.
Peterson was sued last month by Andrew Pollack, whose daughter Meadow died in the shooting.
Asked for comment Tuesday, Pollack said: “This guy is a disgrace. It doesn’t change when he looks in the mirror. … He’s a disgrace and a coward.” Of the pension, he said: “He’s going to take it.” Ideally, Pollack said, the money should go toward school safety or scholarships for wounded students. “But there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Pollack also tweeted about Peterson’s pension: “The coward of Broward, Scot Peterson is getting over $8k a month pension! He hid while my daughter and 16 others were slaughtered! How in the hell is he getting this? That money should go to actually securing our schools!”
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed, tweeted: “This infuriates me in ways people cannot comprehend. My daughter would still be alive if this person did his job.”
Peterson, a native of Illinois, started with the sheriff’s office in July 1985, after studying at Miami-Dade College and Florida International University.